Medium gold color. Drank a glass over 30 minutes. VEry nice nose with brioche, gough, apple, and chalk. The palate shows a decent amount of toast, pear, good elegance, chalk, rather sleek. Always a winner, 92+ to 93pts.

Light pink color. Drank a glass over 30 minutes. Cherry, bicuit, lovely red fruits, star anise, delicate minerality, citrus and red berries. 92+ to 93pts.

Light gold plus color. Drank a glass over an hour plus. Very complex and mature nose with apple, tangerine, briny minerality, lanolin and great spices. The palate is dense and golden with great lift, tangerine, lemon, great brine, lanolin, rich but not heavy with mice length. I love the balance of fruit and spice. 93+ to 94pts.

Light gold color. Drank a glass over an hour. Wow nose, very powerful, immense sea air, cedar, pear. The palate is more tropical, pineapple, saline and strong mineral definition, bold wood spice, pear, oak, flint, light sulfur. Still youthful this has a great future. 95(+)pts.

Very dark red color. Was open for an hour before serving; drank a glass plus over 3 hours. Wow, just another great bottle of this wine. Gret nose, very earthy, forest floor, leather, cassis, blueberry, violet, sultry, damp earth. The palate has leather, cassis, blue fruit, leather, lithe and integrated, gravelly minerality, saddle, and a 45 second finish. Outstanding - my and group WOTN. 96+pts and maybe better.

Very dark red/purple color. Decanted for 2 hours. Followed a glass for 3 hours. The nose shows blackberry jam, leafy greens, subtle tobacco leaf, black plum, a little pruny, oak. The palate shows blackberry cobbler, blackberry liqueur, lots of glycerin, angular, graphite, rounds tannins. While this is fairly balanced and doesn't show any overt heat, you really have a sense of extraction and overly ripe fruit. I suspect we're seeing the '07 vintage coming through here. This is just short of being a bit Port like. 91+ to at most 92pts.

Very dark red/purple color. Decanted for 3.5 hours. Drank a glass plus over 3 hours. Despite the decant - and this never went back into bottle before serving, this took some serious glass time to really open up on the nose. Maybe a good 30 minutes in, this developed a more classical Napa Cabernet nose with a nice perfume of dark chocolate, graphite, and cassis. The palate is pretty open from the start and gets better also. This is deep and concentrated, but really more of a mid-weight plus feel despite being what I'd call full bodied on the palate, dark fruits, cassis predominates, very pretty, slightly herbal, succulent fruits, citrus and pomegranate, gravelly minerality, medium plus finish. I like this, feels well put together and the class of the flight. 93+ to maybe 94pts.

Very dark red/purple color. Decanted for 7.5 hours! Followed a glass over 3 hours. To me the big thing that stands out is this just drinks like young cabernet thats not really ready. Sweet berries, cassis, ripe, some perfume, green pepper. The palate is somewhat green at this point, choke cherry, cassis, firm yet round tannins. Ripe and decadent, but not ready.

Medium dark golden color. Drank a glass over 45 minutes. I think galewskj nailed it when he referenced expectations. There's certainly a lot of hype around this wine and I was excited to try one. This does hit the early part of the mid drinking window for me for Sauternes. The wine was too cold when it was served and that dulled things early on. Gentle warming in hand made a big difference as this slowly blossomed in glass. This has such intensity on the palate, it really does. Peach, marmalade, cream, white blossoms, honey, lovely spice on the nose. The palate really stands out, so creamy, elegance galore, peach, orange panna cotta, orange marmalde, wonderful spice, honey, creme brulee, long and wonderfully silky and creamy with excellent lift and acidity. Always the mark of d'Yquem, this is so impeccably balanced. Is it better than the other great '01's I've had, certainly not head and shoulders, but probably just a hair ahead of the other big guns at this point. A great wine and it will be fun to see where this goes. 96+ to 97pts.